Ferguson writes and speaks about international history, economic and financial history, and British and American imperialism.[2] He is known for his contrarian views, like his defence of British empire.[3] He once called himself "a fully paid-up member of the neo-imperialist gang" following the invasion of Iraq.[4]

He has been a contributing editor for Bloomberg Television[5] and a columnist for Newsweek. Ferguson was an advisor to John McCain's U.S. presidential campaign in 2008, supported Mitt Romney in 2012 and has been a vocal critic of Barack Obama.[6][7] Ferguson received the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism in 2013. In 2018, he resigned from a Stanford program, Cardinal Conversations, after leaked emails proved that he had conspired with members of the Stanford College Republicans to dig up "dirt on a progressive undergraduate", in order to force him out of the program.[8][9]